Anyone play a high level warlock?

[Sir Draconion]

i have a 8th lvl warlock
some things they could use
mutiple attacks/BAB
telekinisis !!!
new power/lvl
eldrich touch attack
better prestige class selection

 

[Tealgorthian]

High level Warlock seems to be better at Item Crafting (Imbue Item), Battlefeild Control (Chilling Tentacles, Wall of Perilous Flame), and Bebuffing (Utterdark Blast, Noxious Blast)

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Myself, I think the warlock does better when he doesn't rely on the blast so much. The "at will" qualities of his invocations really see some use when he starts dispelling every buff or magic item that the enemies bring to bear, and laying down walls of fire to cook those caught in his chilling tentacles.*

The warlock works best when he stays back and just wrecks the battlefield, firing off the odd eldritch blast to catch stragglers, hindering and blocking, dispelling enemy buffs, and Fleeing the Scene when he gets charged by the enemy. He's not as effective as a regular archer, but then regular archers can't throw down area-effect mayhem or dispels. He's not as effective as a wizard, but he's not as susceptible to the "quick, kill the arcane caster before he roasts us" problem. He's also pretty handy with the wand of polymorph, staff of healing, or scroll of meteor swarm. Especially because he could have crafted any of them, if he takes an appropriate feat.

The high-level warlock seems to shine in breadth, rather than depth. It has those generalist weaknesses that come from lack of specialty, but with the item crafting and some well-planned invocation synergies, it makes a really good one-man support crew.

*Actually, that sounds like a really stylish combo. Tentacle a group of creatures and then put a ring of fire around it. Cold damage plus fire damage plus bludgeoning tentacles equals ouch. Then if you manage to break free of the tentacles, you still have to get through the wall. The lowest level you could pull this trick off is 13th.

 

[KarinsDad]

The high-level warlock seems to shine in breadth, rather than depth. It has those generalist weaknesses that come from lack of specialty, but with the item crafting and some well-planned invocation synergies, it makes a really good one-man support crew.

I agree.

I think the issue with Warlocks is that they go from being the "arcane all day long blasters" at low level to "arcane support" at high levels. Sorcerers, on the other hand, go from low level blasters to high level group blasters. It is possible that people who like blasters then get confused on what to do now when their warlock blaster is no longer a blaster. And the only real difference is that at low level, it took 2 to 4 rounds to wipe a single opponent out whereas at high level, it still takes 2 to 4 rounds, but often you do not have that much time anymore (i.e. your AC, saves, and hit points and those of your allies do not protect you at high level for as long as they did at low level). If you are taking 2 to 4 rounds to wipe out a single opponent at high level while your opponents are taking 2 rounds to wipe out multiple opponents, you are behind the curve.

 

[CrazyDrake]

yeah. the warlock is a support blaster type, raining down penalties on enemies. repelling blast, chillling tentacles, etc; with fell flight and all that goodness making it hard to hit the guy. good support blaster, but not a main blaster.

 

[RandomPrecision]

The cheapness of the warlock's abilities compensate pretty well for his mediocrity. The Dead Rise is an incantation that raises corpses as undead. Without a material component, they only last for 1/min per caster level, if I remember correctly, but still, the ratio of enemy-defeating to price is extraordinarily good. A party with wizards and the like may have to constantly fund material components to fuel some of their spells, but warlocks are more economical in that regard. Higher level warlocks probably make adequate or even good characters with some of their incantations, although I admit there is a lull in the mid-levels. Maybe there needs to be more specialization in the warlock path, like specific bonuses to some things while incurring penalties to others.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I think Warlocks may also have some appeal at epic levels. They will reliably punch through opponents SR and can dish out enough punishment to keep attention split between the warlock and any other casters.

 

[Sir Draconion]

heres a quation about warlocks do they get there eldrich blast if there cha is reduced to 1 as per feeble mind? cant find it in the books

 

[Particle_Man]

Well, since the Warlock uses spelllike abilities instead of spells, you don't have to worry about chr going below 10.

And since half-orc characters can start play with chr 1, I see no reason why a Warlock couldn't have a chr 1 and still fire eldritch blasts. Now the saving throws vs. some of their invocations would be rather low...

 

[Psimancer]

I’m currently playing a Warlock in an on-line epic campaign.

His staple power is his Vitriolic Eldritch Doom (big surprise there) allowing him to forget about SR.

Admittedly he is doing less damage that the rest of the group per shot, but he does do it every round. On average I seem to be spitting out more ‘actual’ damage than everyone else (after SR and limited uses is taken into account).

I would definitely say he is holding his own…

His other powers include; Fell Flight, Flee the Scene, Void Sense, Warlock’s Call, Dark Foresight, Dark One’s Own Luck and Retributive Invisibility, to name a few.

Hope that helps…